Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady [DOMINO]

Why you'll love it

Barry Grint cut this half-speed master at Alchemy in London for Domino's remastered edition, which comes with a download card. Pete Shelley's run of singles from 1977 to 1979 is about as tight as British punk ever got.

This edition

• Half-speed master by Barry Grint at Alchemy
• Remastered
• Download card included
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

It was meant as a handshake. Singles Going Steady first came out on I.R.S. in the US in September 1979, an introduction for American audiences timed to a tour, with the eight A-sides in order on side one and their B-sides, in the same order, on side two. British fans got their own copy on United Artists in November 1981.

Martin Rushent produced the lot. Side one runs from "Orgasm Addict" through "What Do I Get?," "Love You More," "Promises" and "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" to Steve Diggle's "Harmony in My Head," all of it buzzing guitars and lovesick hooks. The flip sides are just as sharp, with "Noise Annoys," "Autonomy," "Lipstick" and "Why Can't I Touch It?" stretching the band's sound out. "I Don't Mind" and "Ever Fallen in Love" sit at the heart of side one, Shelley's lovelorn pop at its most irresistible.

A 2001 CD edition later added eight more tracks from the band's last four singles. NME reviewed it twice, once on import in 1979 and again on its UK arrival in 1981, and liked it every bit as much the second time. That's the critical equivalent of a second date going rather well.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Domino (cat# REWIGLP129), a reissue of the 1979 compilation.